


Brash and Unforgiving

by hehkhatea



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Friendship-kinda, Gen, Pet Sitting, venting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 11:18:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16973619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hehkhatea/pseuds/hehkhatea
Summary: Jester needs to talk but no one wants to, but Frumpkin makes a good listener.





	Brash and Unforgiving

The Squall Eater had been slowly sailing for the last couple of days, repairs and duties kept everyone busy and as a result Jester hadn’t really talked to anyone since they left the Diver’s Grave. Aside from writing in her journal to the Traveler and sleeping in the same quarters as Beau, Jester only interacted with a couple members of the ship’s crew and maybe Caduceus during breaks, but he didn’t seem to want to discuss what went down in the cave.

“Everything felt… off.” Caduceus held his tea cup with both hands, as if he was cold, but the sun was beating down on them. Fjord seemed very intent on his destination, checking in on everyone like it was a part of his routine. Jester felt her heart waver a bit whenever she saw him, seeing him also made heat rise to her head. She’d been trying to put a brave face for the group, for Fjord, but it was getting increasingly difficult to pretend she wasn’t miserable being at sea. The Menagerie Coast was where her home was, but the ocean felt as foreign to her now as the Dwendalian Empire had felt when she first arrived there.

Caleb seemed to be avoiding her, and Nott was being his ever constant shadow.

There were splinters in Jester’s fingers as she tried to comb her hair that evening. Her hair had grown out considerably since she left home the first time, it was so much easier to maintain when it was shorter and she could just tie it up. Her bangs had grown out and were starting to get into her eyes and she uselessly tried tucking them behind her ears all the time now. Stretching her hands out, Jester attempted to try and pick out some of the splinters with her nails, and when that proved fruitless she turned to magic.

With a huff she swiped the splinters off her cot and tried to go back to her hair, but even that was becoming an impossible task. Jester was hoping that this would take her mind off the cave, that taking care of her hair would remind her of when her mama would comb her hair and sing to her, but her mama wasn’t here and all Jester could think about was how stupid Fjord and Caleb were. _Caleb_ ; Caleb was always practical, always goal oriented, he was something else entirely in that cave.

First he almost blew up the Squall Eater when they were in Dark Tow, now he’s doing blood rituals in SCARY EVIL CAVES! The comb stopped dead in a tangle and Jester let out a frustrated cry. What is going on?!

Jester threw the comb across her tight quarters, it clattered onto the ground, surprisingly still in one piece. It did scare Sprinkle, however, who was sleeping on top of Jester’s haversack. The crimson weasel hissed before curling back up and away from Jester.

“Sorry, Sprinkle.” Jester whispered in a high, comforting voice. She laid back in her cot, staring at the ceiling. The little candle lamp swayed slightly with the movement of the ship, shadows chased each other across the room. Jester could feel tears start to well up in her eyes, but at the same time she hated crying. She hated being sad, she didn’t want anyone to feel bad for her, she didn’t want to ruin someone else’s day by feeling sad.

One of the shadows moved faster than it had previously, and for a moment Jester thought she saw something in the room. She hoped it wasn’t a rat, hoped that if it was that Frumpkin would kill it. Provided that Frumpkin was a cat again, Jester wasn’t entirely sure if that was the case still.

Jester slowly sat up, and to her surprise, _saw_ Frumpkin in all his feline glory sitting on the floor where her comb was, gently tapping and batting at it. “How did you get in here?” She squeaked. The cat looked up at her for a moment before picking up the comb in his mouth and jumping onto the cot. Jester, gingerly, _suspiciously_ , took the comb from the cat.

“ _Cay-leb_ ,” Jester warns. “You better not be watching me through your cat.” Frumpkin then pressed his head into Jester’s hand, rubbing the side of his face on the comb. “Because if you are, I’m going to be very mad. More angry than I already am.” It was becoming difficult to keep a straight face as Frumpkin continued to rub his head on her, purring as he did. “Did Caleb put you up to this?” Jester addressed the cat.

Frumpkin stilled for a moment, sitting across from her. Jester looked into his eyes, trying to see if there was any hint that Caleb maybe looking through his familiar. Even with darkvision, Jester couldn’t tell if they were green or blue. “If you blink slowly,” Jester said. “That means you love and trust me, Frumpkin.” The cat stared, unblinking. “ _Fruuumpkiiinnn_ , I know you like meee, otherwise you would not be in heeerrreee…” the cat started to lick his paw. “Oh, you suck.”

Jester drew her arms up to her chest with the thin blanket as she turned to lie down again, turning away from the judgmental cat. She felt the creature slowly creep up behind her, stepping on her pillow and laying down across the end of her cot, quietly purring.

“ _Frumpkin_ ,” Jester groaned. “You have to be quieter.” She laid on her belly with her hands propping her head up. The cat laid horizontally, spreading his body out at the head of the cot. Jester started petting him, her blue hands contrasting the rusty warm colors of Frumpkin’s coat. He was much softer than Sprinkle, but she was sure that it was because Sprinkle had been stressed out recently, certainly not because of Sprinkle’s pastry diet…

“You know,” Jester sighed. “I’m not _really_ mad at Caleb or Fjord. I think I’m just… realizing that not everything is like books, you know? Sometimes you think you know how people are suppose to be and they’re not. I knew Fjord before anyone else and I thought that I knew what he was like and that he would be the Oskar to my Guinevere, but Fjord is not like Oskar at all…” The cat rolled over, stretching out weirdly. “Maybe I just got frustrated at him because he didn’t act the way I wanted him to.”

Jester started petting Frumpkin against the grain of his fur, making it stand up and be staticy, to which the cat turned his head to her and practically glared. Jester gave the cat a mischievous smile before petting him the right way again. “Maybe that’s why I was disappointed in Caleb, too.” Jester continued. “Because Caleb is kinda weird but like sort of unpredictable too, you know? Like when I met him I just thought he was a stinky hobo but he’s actually _really_ good a magic and likes smutty books like me,” She giggles a little, thinking about Caleb sticking his hands into bread.

“But he does the some things,” Frumpkin stands up to stretch a little before curling up into a little ball by Jester’s pillow. “Some things that scare me a little, and he’s very sad sometimes, too.” Jester bunched up the pillow and rested her chin on it. “You know, I know I’m not like, _the best_ at being a healer, but everyone looks at me to be _the cleric_ and sometimes I’m scared that if I don’t do a good job they’ll all leave me. I like Caduceus, he’s _very_ nice, but he’s better and helping people than I am.”

Jester looked over at Frumpkin and saw that one of his eyes was open slightly, looking back at her, They looked almost blue. "Sometimes I need help, too, you know? But... I want to get better, too." Jester closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I know you don’t really like me Frumpkin,” She sighed. “And you’re just here to cheer me up, but… If you stayed here tonight, I would not mind.” Jester blinked slowly at Frumpkin. For a moment the cat stared again, before opening both eyes and closing them slowly and opening again. “You _looove_ me, Frumpkin.” She settled into her cot, sleeping on her stomach so she doesn’t poke Frumpkin or the pillows with her horns.

* * *

 

After Jester was asleep, Frumpkin was summoned back to Caleb in a snap. The man brought the cat up to his chest, letting the vibrations of the purring creature settle his nerves for a moment. His fingers were stained with ink from dictating a spell into one of his books, his hands shook from residual arcane energy.

“She needed you, _ja_ ?” Caleb whispered to the familiar. “She did not handle you too roughly?” Caleb was aware that Frumpkin had remarkable tolerance, but seeing as Frumpkin was not disheveled when he was summoned back lead Caleb to assume correctly. “I will keep you for a few moments longer, before sending you back, _ja_?” The cat purred louder, sinking his claws into Caleb’s forearms.

It wasn’t terribly painful, it was a relaxing pain. Caleb’s eyelids felt heavy, and behind his lids the image of Jester blinking slowly burned. Tears pricked his eyes and his heart felt heavy. _Why is this so hard?_ He thought. _Why does this hurt so much?_

Caleb settled into his own cot, with Nott curled up at the foot of it. He almost felt motion sick for a second, but it was probably from the boat. In a snap, Frumpkin was back in Jester and Beau’s quarters. Caleb tried to get some sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea was bumping around in my head the last couple days, the Widojest discord might have something to do with it...


End file.
